(was “ESRI 9.2 Personal Geodatabases in ArcGIS 9.1″)
As with most updates to ArcGIS, 9.2 personal geodatabases do not work with previous versions of ArcGIS. The only work around is to use a blank geodatabase from that version of ArcGIS. For those who have already upgraded and need a 9.1 geodatabase, 9.0 geodatabase or a 8.3 geodatabase, feel free to grab one from below. You can’t go wrong with the ArcGIS 8.3 version so unless you need annotation, it might be best to use it.
ArcGIS 9.2 Version Geodatabase
ArcGIS 9.1 Version Geodatabase
21 Comments
Heh, use the new file geodatabase James. Personal geodatabases are so old skool
Yeah except you have no way into a file geodatabase except for ArcObjects based platforms. Old skool is better than locked up. I do remember someone saying that they were going to release a public API or odbc or some sort of access to file geodb. I will let someone else hold their breath waiting for that release….
great idea! thanks!
Still using shapefiles – you try adding a geodatabase to Maplex Standalone (3.5 Beta 2) no go!
You need to upgrade to 9.2 Geodatabases to make use of the ‘all new’ Cartographic Representations.
Believe me, if you work with the U.S. Federal Government, these are worth their weight in gold.
ESRI is hellbent on making the shapefile go the way of the dodo bird. File based GDB will hopefully be the death knell, but it needs to be a very doucmented file format so they can push adoption. After tasting aliases, domains and topology in PGDB, I abhore anything sent to me in shape. 12 char column names are so 1980s.
J Wallis I agree that file GDBs should help shapefiles go the way of the DODO, but I’d prefer for ESRI to not document their binary structure. Rather I think that ESRI should provide a C/.Net/Java API for accessing what is in a file GDB as well as an ODBC driver. Think about it: why do you want to dig through binary files when you can have an API to read and write with?
ESRI has already said they do not plan to offer such documentation but an API to connect to them.
This is why they will never replace Shapefiles. If ESRI was serious about the filegdb replacing the shapefile, they would open it up. It is a moot point anyway because even the Personal GDB has gotten little traction out of the ESRI suite so sharing PGDBs is almost impossible with the community at large vs Shapefiles which are supported by almost all. Plus 9.2 PGDBs and File GDBs are not backwards compatible with even 9.1 so millions of users are left out of the cold.
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the PGDB and am very happy to see the File GDB, but I’m thinking ESRI is missing a great opportunity here to set the standard.
Doug: Given ESRI’s latest moves with the ADF and other pricing/lock in moves I would prefer they open the binary format and let some open source people write their own drivers. There is a C and Java API to SDE but look at some of the concerns developers have about using them. Give us the spec and let other people write the drivers. Well, if ESRI wants to give the drivers and doc the spec so people can roll their own drivers as well I am cool with that.
I am in total agreement with James except I don’t think ESRI will step up to set the standard.
If they release their API as open source, with a BSD license, they can get good adoption of file GDB. If they release a closed API, I can see adoption being slow… what vendor wants an ESRI binary blob linked into their software?
Paul, I asked that very question at the User Conference, but they insisted that everyone wants the ESRI API.
Not sure if they noticed my eyes roll or not.
I’ve had this discussion with a few folks at ESRI over the years. Their API as a whole is extremely powerful but hardly anyone needs it in its totality. The business case is whether it would cost you less to build and maintain the subset you need for your application when compared to licensing/maintenance costs. The more expensive they make the ADF, the more it will lose this comparison, especially in the face of open source products that are gaining in sophistication, stability and support.
In short, everyone may want it but there’s probably a top end that they’re will to pay for it.
thank you so much
dear james:
i am majid mousavi ,student of watershed management in iran.your documents about arcgis was very interesting for me.
sincerely yours.
dear james:
I will be greatly oblige to you if you write about use of arcgis for remote sensing interpretation(satelite image interpretation).
sincerely yours
I have downloaded some National Hydrology Dataset personal geodatabase files (.mdb), and would like to be able to read the binary data. Has anybody done this? I have a great java library from BBN that reads shapefiles. It is hard to imagine adapting this library to read GDB binary data, because it reads a .shx file at the same time it reads the .shp file.
Thank you
ESRI has recently stated that no open API will be offered for the FGDB. Instead they plan to publish the FGDB spec sometime after ArcGIS9.3 is released.
Guess that will give ESRI’s business partners time to develop code to work with the FGDB without competition from the Open Source crowd.
I have downloaded some National Hydrology Dataset personal geodatabase files (.mdb), and would like to be able to read the binary data. Has anybody done this?
Manifold will do this. It can also update the geometry in the .mdb
The reality is, ESRI regrets ever making the shapefile open. It allowed for other users to bring .shp data into their software too easily. ESRI longs for the day when the coverage model way proprietary, and if anyone even though of reading it, they’d hit you with a lawsuit.
Trust me, geography doesn’t connect all of us. Only those with the money to pay Jack.
I have actually got the BBN OpenMap java library to read the binary (shapefile) data in NHD personal geodatabases.
GRASIAS POR LA AYUDA, RESOLVIO MI PROBLEMA
YOUR WEBSITES HELPES ME A LOT IN MY RESEARCH, THANKS A LOT, COULD YOU PLEASE SEND ME SOME MORE DETAILS CONCERNING THE NATIONAL SPATIAL GEODATABASE, FIRSTLY A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIONAL SPATIAL DATABASE, I WOULD BE PLEASED IF MY REQUEST COULD BE ANSWEARD TO. THANK YOU, KEEP WELL!